horse and hobble the other and am ready for lunch while enjoying the background music of thunderous falls. Not as wide as Niagara nor as tall as Yosemite, yet the sounds enliven the spirit just the same. Yes, spring delivers a cornucopia for the
senses. The sense of touch enlivened by the wind perfected with the sights, scents and sounds experienced on a day on the trail! So far so good but one sense is still missing—taste. After watching my horses sample the buffet that the grasslands and the riparian habitats offered, I think I will provide for myself from nature’s bounty. On my way home I’ll switch horses and begin my hunt for this evening’s salad, all provid- ed by the land that I will be riding through. I’ll be looking for miner’s lettuce (In-
dian lettuce), some rose hips for Vitamin C, sweet buds of Manzanita flowers, supplemented with the lemony fl avor of some curly dock. I’ll add in some cattail shoots (look and taste like bamboo shoots after peeling the outside) found along the stream habitat and sage seeds that I sprinkle on the salad are an equivalent to
sesame seeds. Some prefer to complement this with peppermint tea from a mint plant or Mormon tea for an ephedrine boost but I prefer to enhance salad I eat with a bottle of full-bodied California cabernet. Keeping in the tone of natural foods, I
look at the Cabernet as basically ferment- ed squashed grapes. The equine buffet of wild oats, succulent bushes and clover will have nothing on my snippet of greens. Here’s to enjoying your ride whatever trail you choose—learning about the land you and your horse will traverse will go a long way to upgrading your ride!
Rob Lazor lives in Grass Valley, California, where he is an entrepreneur and confi rmed adventure trekker with his two Morgans. Always looking for a new place to
ride, the author welcomes suggestions for a weeklong trek to that next adventure. Please contact
editor@trailblazermagazine.us.
LIVING OFF THE LAND fl avor)
For the adventurous diner, listed below is a sample salad that can be garnished with Spenceville’s Wildlife Area’s natural produce section. To go along with a variety of plants, an enticing salad needs a variety of colors. The color of the ingredient is noted after each listing.
INGREDIENTS sMiner’s lettuce (green) s Sweet buds of Manzanita fl owers (light pink)
sCurly dock (green, lemony
Miners Let uce was in full bloom mid- March through mid-April.
sCattail shoots (like bamboo shoots, white)
sSage seeds (put your ban- dana below sage flowers and shake—little black seeds that look like sesame seeds will fall out)
sDandelion leaves (green) sDandelion blossoms (yel- low)
s Locust (tree) blossoms (white)
sClean, dry, and toss with the dressing of your choice.
Salad greens from leſt : dock (baby leaves are best), dandelion greens and blos- soms, BV Rutherford Cabernet Savignon (to wash it all down), sage (for its high pro- tein seeds seen strewn to the right of the sage fl ower), mus- tard greens, red clover (for human consumption too), white locust (blossoms are mildly sweet) and Manzanita blossoms.
WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US • June | July 2010 53
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